| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| CatherineR |
Posted - 05/20/2012 : 11:19:02
http://www.nyrnaturalnews.com/chemicals-2/2012/05/italian-court-rules-mmr-vaccine-did-trigger-autism/
Natural Health News — An Italian court has ruled there is a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
In what may be a ground-breaking decision, the Italian Court of Rimini has ruled that causation between an MMR vaccine and the resulting autism in a young child “has been established.”
The unnamed child received the vaccine in March of 2004 and on returning home immediately developed adverse symptoms. During the next year the child regressed, receiving the autism diagnosis one year later and is now 100% disabled by the disease.
The Italian court ruled that the child “has been damaged by irreversible complications due to vaccination (prophylaxis trivalent MMR)” and ordered the Ministry of Health to compensate the child with a 15 year annuity and to reimburse the parents of their court cost.
The judgement can be found in full here and the original news report in Italian appears here. A rough Google translation appears here.
The case is expected to go to appeal as authorities are concerned it may set a legal precedent.
Not the first judgement against the vaccine
This, however, is the second recent judgement to come to this conclusion. Earlier this year a US court also ruled that the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine can cause autism.
In a ruling that kept very quiet in the press, the US Court of Federal Claims has conceded that the mercury-based preservative thimerosal, which was in vaccines until 2002, caused autism in the case of one child.
The ruling was just one of 4,900 cases currently being considered for compensation payments. Health officials are concerned that it could open the floodgates for even more claims.
The ruling, made by US Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler, was made last November, and was one of three test cases into the MMR-autism link that was being considered by a three-member panel, which Keisler chaired.
The case involved a child who received nine vaccinations in July 2000, when she was 18 months old. Two of these contained thimerosal. Within days, the girl, who had previously been healthy, began to exhibit loss of language skills, no eye contact, loss of response to verbal direction, insomnia, incessant screaming, and arching.
A diagnosis of autism was confirmed seven months later.
In its defence, the US government claimed the girl had a pre-existing mitochondrial disorder that was aggravated by the vaccine. However in his conclusion, Keisler said that “compensation is appropriate”.
Too much heat, not enough light
Both findings would appear to support the controversial findings of Dr Andrew Wakefield who, in 1998 published an article in the Lancet suggesting a link between the vaccine and autism. Official reaction to the paper was of such force and such outrage that the Lancet withdrew the paper on the grounds that it was scientifically unsound.
Wakefield has been in a battle for his professional reputation ever since and the question of the proposed link between the MMR vaccine and autism has been largely sidelined (though not solved) by bitter and very public professional rows that have done little to bring clarity to concerned parents. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| jabsadmin |
Posted - 01/21/2013 : 15:03:50
http://www.onmedica.com/newsArticle.aspx?id=1e1a4bc8-9029-49f1-b428-9a629b747921
onmedica.com
15th January 2013
US MMR VACCINE PAYOUT
Parents who claim their son developed autism as a result of a measles mumps and rubella vaccination have been awarded more than the equivalent of 600,000 pounds, according to the Daily Mail (p29)
The paper says the ruling against the US Health Department behind the vaccination programme does not blame the child's disability on the jabs but it does "fuel" campaigners who follow the minority opinion that the jab has this side effect.
The claim was successful because US law allows action in cases linked to compulsory vaccines, it says. |
| jabsadmin |
Posted - 01/21/2013 : 11:49:56
http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/01/daily-mail-publishes-mmr-letter.html#comment-captcha
Age of Autism
21st January 2013
Daily Mail publishes MMR letter
A slightly edited but not toned-down version of a letter by Bill Welsh, President of Autism Treatment Trust, Scotland was published in the Daily Mail hard edition on Friday (18 January 2013). Age of Autism here reproduces the original text for its readers.
Sir,
A payment of $600,000 in the USA as compensation for MMR vaccine damage leading to autism in a child (Daily Mail 15/1/13) follows a $1 million payout a few days earlier for the same tragic scenario. It is my understanding that up to 100 families in America have now been compensated in recognition of the neurological harm MMR can do, although, as part of the recompense, each family had to sign a 'confidentiality agreement'! There are many more USA cases awaiting a decision.
Last year a small boy in Rimini was similarly compensated for the autism he developed following MMR. The Italian government did not challenge the court decision. Hundreds more cases are in the pipeline in Italy.
In the UK over 1,500 families entered litigation claiming MMR had led to autism in their child. Legal aid was suspiciously withdrawn and the parents were abandoned with their seriously ill children who had, and still have, known, painful, treatable co-morbid underlying medical conditions.
What does this tell us of the mindset and morals of the guardians of public health in the UK?
It tells us that the ancient Carthaginian policy of child sacrifice is alive and well and has full approval in the shadier corridors of Whitehall. The promotion and protection of a deeply flawed vaccination programme has over-ruled common sense and common decency. To damage perfectly healthy children in a crude experiment is undoubtedly a criminal offence and must be treated as such. It is high time that our politicians realised that they, along with the citizens of the UK, have been misled about the safety of MMR.
Bill Welsh
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| jabsadmin |
Posted - 01/15/2013 : 16:27:42
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/post2468343_b_2468343.html
Vaccine Court Awards Millions to Two Children With Autism
By David Kirby
14th January 2013
The federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, better known as "vaccine court," has just awarded millions of dollars to two children with autism for "pain and suffering" and lifelong care of their injuries, which together could cost tens of millions of dollars.
The government did not admit that vaccines caused autism, at least in one of the children. Both cases were "unpublished," meaning information is limited, and access to medical records and other exhibits is blocked. Much of the information presented here comes from documents found at the vaccine court website.
Some observers will say the vaccine-induced encephalopathy (brain disease) documented in both children is unrelated to their autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Others will say there is plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise.
What's more, these cases fit the pattern of other petitions, (i.e., Poling and Banks) in which the court ruled (or the government conceded) that vaccines had caused encephalopathy, which in turn produced permanent injury, including symptoms of autism and ultimately an ASD diagnosis.
And most of these children now have taxpayer dollars earmarked for applied behavioral analysis (ABA), an effective therapy specifically designed to treat ASD.
Meanwhile, parents, grandparents, friends and neighbors of both children testified they were developmentally normal, if not advanced for their age when they developed seizures, spiking fevers and other adverse reactions to their vaccines. According to these eyewitnesses, the children never fully recovered, and instead began losing vocabulary, eye contact and interest in others around them, all classic symptoms of regressive autism.
In the first case, involving a 10-year-old boy from Northern California named Ryan Mojabi, the parents allege that "all the vaccinations" received from 2003-2005, and "more specifically, measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccinations," caused a "severe and debilitating injury to his brain, described as Autism Spectrum Disorder ('ASD')."
The parents, who did not want to be interviewed, specifically asserted that Ryan "suffered a Vaccine Table Injury, namely, an encephalopathy" as a result of his MMR vaccination on December 19, 2003." ("Table injuries" are known, compensable adverse reactions to immunizations.)
Alternatively, they claim that "as a cumulative result of his receipt of each and every vaccination between March 25, 2003 and February 22, 2005, Ryan has suffered . . . neuroimmunologically mediated dysfunctions in the form of asthma and ASD."
In vaccine court, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services acts as the defendant and Justice Department attorneys act as counsel.
In 2009, Ryan's case was transferred to vaccine court's Autism Omnibus Proceedings, according to the docket. A year-and-a-half later, the government conceded that MMR vaccine had indeed caused Ryan's encephalopathy.
HHS agreed that "Ryan suffered a Table injury under the Vaccine Act -- namely, an encephalitis within five to fifteen days following receipt," of MMR, records show. "This case is appropriate for compensation."
Whether HHS agreed with Ryan's parents that his vaccine-induced brain disease led to ASD is unknown. The concession document is under seal.
In December 2003, when Ryan was nearly two, he received his first MMR and hepatitis B vaccines before his family left for an extended trip overseas. That day, his mother testified, Ryan began shaking with uncontrollable tremors and "was really uncomfortable, he didn't feel well at all."
The nurse at Ryan's pediatrician said the symptoms were "pretty normal after the vaccination," and advised Tylenol. The next day, Ryan began crying, "but it's not a normal crying," his mother testified. "He didn't go to sleep, he was without energy."
The family considered postponing their holiday, but that wasn't feasible. The doctor's office said it was fine to travel. Prior to leaving, Ryan's mother said, the boy had difficulty breathing and "was without energy and sleepy." He could no longer hold his head up, something "he could do prior to the vaccinations." At the airport, Ryan began "screaming," she recalled. "He was just opening and closing his eyes so hard, he was pulling my hair."
After his shots, she added, Ryan "stopped saying those words that he had, even mommy and daddy, that he had repeated a hundred times before."
In early January, while still abroad, Ryan was rushed to the hospital with vomiting, high fever and red spots covering his body "from head to toe in a measles-like rash," the attending physician said. Ryan was diagnosed with "febrile convulsion, probably related to MMR."
The next day, another doctor diagnosed him with "high fever, skin rash, tremors, and lethargy," which were "most likely due to an adverse reaction to multiple vaccines he received earlier."
Two days later, Ryan returned to the hospital with a persistent fever of 104 or more.
Ryan's parents testified that, upon returning home, they expressed worry to their pediatrician about behavioral problems, non-responsiveness and language loss, which later produced an ASD diagnosis.
At trial, however, the government argued powerfully that written medical records, and the recollections of Ryan's doctor, were inconsistent with his parents' testimony. If Ryan had truly suffered an MMR encephalopathy, for example, his family would never have taken him overseas. And his parents' complaints of ASD symptoms were raised a full year after returning from abroad, they alleged. It looked like the family had a weak case.
But then something changed.
In October, 2010, Ryan's attorney filed four new exhibits (under seal) and proposed amending the court's "findings of fact." In January and May of 2011, several more exhibits were filed, along with a motion to further supplement the findings of fact.
A month later HHS conceded the case, which moved into the damages phase.
Award details were announced a few days ago: A lump sum of $969,474.91, to cover "lost future earnings ($648,132.74), pain and suffering ($202,040.17), and life care expenses for Year One ($119,302.00)," plus $20,000 for past expenses.
Another undisclosed sum, several millions more, will be invested in annuities to cover yearly costs for life, which could total $10 million or more, not accounting for inflation. Nearly $80,000 was earmarked for ABA in the first two years.
The second case involves a girl named Emily, whose mother, Jillian Moller, filed back in 2003 and has been fighting in vaccine court since. The docket, crammed with 188 items, documents Moller's extended but victorious struggle to win compensation for Emily, who has seizure disorder and PDD-NOS, a form of ASD.
Moller alleged that Emily was severely injured by a reaction to the DTaP vaccine at 15 months (when MMR, HiB and Prevnar were also given). "She had a vaccine reaction and she just spiraled out of control," Moller said in an interview.
Emily's fever spiked to 105.7 and she began screaming. She stared blankly and developed seizures. Before long she began "shaking episodes" at night and "repetitive behaviors, including arm flapping and spinning," court documents show. Like Ryan, she developed a measles-type rash.
Things went from bad to worse. Emily's medical record is filled with damage and suffering. One neurologist, for example, noted that Emily "had staring spells and an abnormal EEG." Another diagnosed "encephalopathy characterized by speech delay and probable global developmental delay that occurred in the setting of temporal association with immunizations as an acute encephalopathy."
Moller filed for an encephalopathy Table injury in 2003, unaware her daughter would be diagnosed with ASD.
Two hearings were held in 2005. "I was badgered and harassed for four hours on the stand," she said. "They said Emily couldn't have been that sick, or else I would've taken her to the ER. But I took her to my doctor and he said not to bring her to the hospital!"
Government lawyers insisted that Emily had suffered neither a vaccine injury nor encephalopathy. But every alternative cause they suggested "made no sense, because she showed no signs of those things before that vaccination," Moller said.
The case dragged on for years, with motions and counter-motions, status reports and expert medical reports. In 2007, Moller filed for summary judgment. That also took years, as more medical records were submitted to bolster Emily's case.
After the ASD diagnosis, the judge reportedly became convinced that Emily would prevail. "My attorney said she was angry, she felt forced into a corner with no choice but to find for us," Moller said. "She said, 'Emily has autism, and I don't want to give other families who filed autism claims any hope.'"
The government agreed to settle. Last spring the case went into mediation and, on December 3 HHS made its proffer, which was entered into the record on the 28th. Emily was awarded a lump sum of $1,030,314.22 "for lost future earnings ($739,989.57), pain and suffering ($170,499.77) and life care expenses for Year One ($119,874.88) plus $190,165.40 for past expenses." Some of that money will go to ABA therapy.
Based on the first year payout, another estimated $9 million will buy annuities for annual expenses through life, which after inflation has the potential to pay over $50 million dollars.
HHS did not admit that vaccination caused encephalopathy or autism, but merely decided not to dedicate more resources to defending the case.
"I don't understand why they fought so hard," Moller said. "We had the evidence: the EEG, the MRI, everything was consistent with encephalopathy, post-vaccination. How can government attorneys claim what our doctors said happened, didn't happen?"
Perhaps the feds were loath to concede yet another vaccine case involving autism. Four cases in the Autism Omnibus Proceedings were recently compensated. Three of those cases are marked with asterisks, indicating the government did not conclude that autism can be caused by vaccines. But the fourth autism case that was paid out in 2013 (Ryan's case? We don't know) has no such caveat.
As for Emily, she is "not too good," Moller said. "Her emotional state is fragile, at best. She has seizure problems and autoimmune issues... And it's a constant fight when you have a vaccine-injured child. It's not just the disability, it's the ignorance. The hatred from the medical community towards families like ours is intense."
Meanwhile, as HHS says it "has never concluded in any case that autism was caused by vaccination," it is still underwriting autism treatments such as ABA for children in its vaccine-injury program.
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| jabsadmin |
Posted - 01/15/2013 : 13:47:12
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262534/American-parents-awarded-600-000-compensation-son-developed-autism-result-MMR-vaccine.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Daily Mail
American parents awarded £600,000 in compensation after their son developed autism as a result of MMR vaccine
Saeid and Parivash Mojabi claimed their son suffered a 'severe brain injury'
The Californian couple said that son Ryan was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder
By DAVID GARDNER
PUBLISHED: 01:32, 15 January 2013
Parents who claim their 10-year-old boy developed autism as a result of being injected with an MMR vaccine when he was a baby have been awarded more than £600,000 in a landmark court decision in America.
Saeid and Parivash Mojabi claimed that son Ryan suffered a ‘severe and debilitating injury to his brain’ after being administered with two measles-mumps-rubella vaccinations in December, 2003 and in May the following year.
They said in court papers that Ryan was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The ruling comes months after a judge in Italy awarded £140,000 to an Italian couple who said their son had autism after his routine childhood MMR inoculation.
The American decision - although it doesn’t lay fault for the child’s disability with the drug - fuels anti-MMR campaigners challenging the view of the majority of the medical profession that holds the vaccinations are safe.
The claim was against the US government which set up a Vaccine Programme. Although a judgement rules whether or not each case is eligible for compensation and the amount - in this case against the US Health Department - it does not apportion blame.
The San Jose, California, based family took their case to the US Court of Federal Claims in 2006.
Under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Programme, parents can petition the US government for compensation for injuries or deaths allegedly caused by compulsory childhood vaccines.
A judgement in Ryan’s case, which was first filed in 2006, was made on December 13 last year by the Office of Special Masters set up by US Congress to decide on compensation claims. The defendant in the case was the US Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The damages payment takes into account the boy’s future loss of earnings because it’s unlikely he will be able to work.
In statements to the court, Ryan’s grandmother Paravaneh Shah-Mohammadi and his aunt Pooran Vahabi told how the boy appeared ‘lethargic’, ‘hardly responsive to noises and people around him,’and ‘unable to hold himself upright’ after having the first MMR vaccination.
The number of autism cases in the UK has soared over the past four decades. At the last count researchers found one in 64 British children have some kind of autistic condition.
In the Eighties, only four in every 10,000 children showed any signs of autism.
The Department of Health and NHS doctors insist that better diagnosis of autism and environmental factors are responsible for the dramatic rise in the number of cases and dismissed MMR vaccinations as a cause.
No link between the jabs and autism has been found in the British courts.
In America, nearly 5,000 families blame the MMR injection for causing their children’s autism.
In 2008, a girl called Hannah Poling was awarded £1 million damages by the US government when a court ruled that receiving nine vaccines in one day, including the MMR, had caused her autistic condition.
But the court said that Hannah had an underlying cell disorder, mitochondria, which had been aggravated by the vaccinations and manifested itself as autism.
In Ryan’s case, Chief Special Master Patricia Campbell-Smith decided his family was eligible for damages under the US government’s Vaccine Programme.
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| jabsadmin |
Posted - 07/26/2012 : 13:35:39
http://www.cryshame.co.uk//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=151&Itemid=135
CryShame
LANDMARK MMR JUDGMENT IN ITALY: implications for future litigation
19 July 2012
On 16 June the Mail reported the landmark decision of an Italian court that the MMR is responsible for the devastating disability - autism - of nine-year old Valentino Bocca. This decision, following the submission of independent forensic doctors, is now accepted by the Italian government. The Italian Ministry of Health has paid compensation to the family of a one-off payment of £140,000 together with a lifetime pension backdated 15 years.
Valentino Bocca received an MMR vaccination in 2004. Between 2004 and 2005, he displayed ongoing symptoms of 'nervousness and diarrhoea'. In 2008 Dr Niglio, a specialist doctor, attested that the symptoms were attributed to the MMR vaccination. In 2009 this conclusion was verified by Dr Montanari, another specialist doctor.
The judgment was made by Judge Lucio Ardigo, following the expert testimony of Antonio Barboni, a doctor of forensic medicine appointed by the court as an expert witness who testified that MMR had caused Valentino's autism. This evidence was in addition to the evidence of Drs Niglio and Montanari. The judge ordered the Ministry of Health to pay compensation for the damages caused by the MMR. The two parties to the case - the parents and the Ministry of Health - reached agreement by consent.
Valentino's application for compensation for damages caused by vaccination was first lodged in 2008. This was followed by court rulings to establish whether he was eligible for compensation and whether the Ministry of Health was responsible for causing vaccine damage to Valentino. Initially the Ministry argued that as the vaccination was not compulsory but based on a voluntary decision taken by the parents, it could not be held responsible for causing damage. Eventually Judge Ardigo ruled that the Ministry of Health was responsible for compensating the vaccine-induced damages suffered by Valentino, and that this responsibility was not lessened by virtue of the fact that the vaccine was not compulsory
An important finding of the court was that if the state's policy is to encourage a high level of vaccination in the population in order to achieve herd-immunity, then by the same token the state owes an obligation to compensate children damaged by such a policy. The judgment expressly states that this collective state responsibility over-rides any consideration of whether the vaccine was voluntary or mandatory.
A further important finding concerns the standard of proof used in the Rimini judgment to establish that the MMR caused autism. The judgment used a standard of "reasonable scientific probability" which it argued had been established by the expert witnesses in Valentino's case.
This is of particular interest to claimants in the UK class action brought by 1500 children against three manufacturers of MMR where their application to bring the case to court was refused in 2003 on the grounds that there was insufficient scientific proof of causation. At the time the claimants argued that the standard of proof should be the civil law standard of the balance of probability. However the Legal Services Commission that had legally aided the litigation argued that the case lacked conclusive scientific evidence when deciding in 2003 to withdraw legal aid from the children.
The standard of proof defined as reasonable scientific probability is higher and more exacting than the balance of probability, but not as high as a scientific standard of proof. The UK claimants argued that it was inappropriate to apply a strict scientific standard to a legal context. The standard in the Italian case is interesting in that it retains the notion of probability used in civil law cases, but recognises that in cases of damages caused by medical intervention the notion of probability should apply to the scientific evidence, ie that there is scientific evidence that MMR in all probability caused Valentino's autism.
A further finding was that, although the parents did not produced evidence from clinical records immediately following MMR of its serious adverse effects on their child, this was not material to the outcome of the case. Dr Niglio's findings in 2008 - four years after the MMR was given - were the first evidence of causation which prove material in the case. The Italian compensation system enforces a two-year limit on lodging claims after knowledge of causation is first established, not two years after the actual causal event - the MMR vaccination - occurs.
Summary
Although the Rimini judgment was conclusive for Valentino Bocca and may well have implications for subsequent compensation claims processed by the Italian system, it is based on Italian law. The implications of the case for UK litigation cannot be known for certain. What is interesting, however, is the clarification of legal arguments, namely the non-mandatory status of the MMR vaccination is not relevant in deciding cases of compensation rather the clinching argument was that government policy seeking a sufficiently widespread vaccination coverage to induce herd-immunity - put at 95% in the UK - place a responsibility on government to compensate for adverse consequences resulting from this policy the judgment used a standard of "reasonable scientific probability" to reach its conclusion that MMR caused autism in Valentino's case. This may prove a more appropriate and legally verifiable standards than a strictly scientific standard of proof (a concept that even scientists continue to debate and fail to agree on) the time by which a claimant should bring a damage claim to court starts from the moment when knowledge of causation occurs, not from the moment when the vaccination was administered.
An important outcome to watch for will be the precedent this case sets for other claimants claiming damage from the MMR. Its status as a precedent will first be tested in Italian courts in the coming months. If established it could also support similar claimants in other countries such as the UK.
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| jabsadmin |
Posted - 07/01/2012 : 19:17:52
http://www.ageofautism.com/2012/06/autism-treatment-trusts-bill-welsh-on-italian-mmr-vaccine-ruling.html#more
Age of Autism
30/6/2012
Autism Treatment Trust's Bill Welsh on Italian MMR Vaccine Ruling
Readers familiar with the arts will immediately recognise the name Federico Fellini, a film maker who is regarded as one of the most influential in twentieth century cinema. It is less likely that they will be aware that he was born in Rimini, a coastal town situated on the Adriatic coast in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, an area recently hit by earthquakes causing much damage and loss of life. Fellini’s films were apparently influenced by Jungian psychology resulting in cinematic works containing magical surrealist episodes. There was however nothing surreal about an event that took place in Rimini’s District Court House last month. The court ruled that a child had become autistic as a direct result of vaccination. The vaccine concerned was none other than MMR. The after-shocks emanating from this decision will stretch much further than the tremors of the recent local tectonic stress and will already have reached the legal departments of some of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
Some years ago in the UK almost 2,000 parents reported the self same adverse outcome for their child; ‘autism following MMR’, only to have their legal aid removed by the Legal Services Commission shortly before a court decision could be reached. The presiding judge at the tribunal in 2007, Mr Justice Keith, emphasised that “it was the funding issues rather than the merits of the case, which had driven the decision not to allow the claims to proceed: it is not because the court thinks the claims have no merit”. He added “Although this litigation has been going on for very many years, the question whether the claims have merit has never been addressed by the court”.
Over the following days, months, and years the UK media-- hand fed by various public health bodies- -insinuated that the parents had actually lost their case and that there were no grounds for further speculation on a connection between MMR vaccination and autism. The parents of the damaged children were soon to find out that their legitimate claims for compensation would be misrepresented ad nauseam until the very suggestion of an MMR/autism link became regarded in the public eye as preposterous.
The gross injustice done to the parents of MMR damaged children in the UK by the Legal Services Commission brings shame on us all. Today, the truth is there for all to see: MMR can cause autism.
A judgement in a small court room in Rimini may be the tipping point in what has been a lengthy and acrimonious debate.
Fellini said “Our dreams are our real life”. Hopefully the dreams of justice for parents of autistic children can now become real, and very soon.
Bill Welsh
President
Autism Treatment Trust |
| jabsadmin |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 19:57:52
http://www.thisischeshire.co.uk/news/9780389.Dad_welcomes_MMR_ruling/
25th June 2012
Stockton Heath dad welcomes Italian MMR ruling
A STOCKTON Heath father, who believes his son became autistic after being given the MMR vaccination, has welcomed a landmark Italian court ruling.
Judges in Rimini awarded the Bocca family £140,000 after the Italian health ministry conceded the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine caused autism in their nine-year-old son.
The result has given fresh hope for many parents with similar cases who feel the British legal process has failed them including father-of-one David Thrower.
His son Oliver, aged 25, requires 24 hour care which he believes was the result of a measles jab at 15 months and the MMR vaccination aged four.
The 61-year-old, of Ackers Road, said: “There was going to be a judgement sooner or later from a court that recognised a child’s health had been damaged by the vaccine and this is very important to us.
“There’s a store of dynamite underneath the medical establishment and parents can’t get through to the authorities despite the reaction of children being consistent.
“Politicians are not experts themselves but they are relying on advice from the very people who have fouled this up.”
David, who never had the opportunity to argue his case in court after legal aid was taken away, said he has an objective view of the vaccine.
He added: “Despite what happened to Oliver, I only go where the evidence takes me.
“I accept vaccines have saved millions of lives but I’m not prepared to accept when things go wrong the government should simply shrug it off.”
Oliver’s family said he ‘markedly regressed’ within weeks of the jab from a bright boy who could point to every letter on a bedroom alphabet freeze to someone who lost all his skills and language and was in a ‘world of his own’.
David added: “Oliver was our first child so we couldn’t understand what was going on.
“There was no media coverage and we didn’t know anybody else in the same position so we coped the best we could.
“It was a terrible day when I took Oliver, aged four, to a pre- assessment school.
“They were trying to get him to do a toddle race and he had no idea what was expected of him.
“I looked at him and realised I had got a brain damaged child and I cried.”
Repeated visits to the hospital did not supply any answers until a BBC report in 1997 highlighted an investigation into connections between MMR and autism.
Following that he met founder of vaccine support group Jabs Jackie Fletcher and many other parents who had all experienced the same thing.
He added: “All money would do now is pay towards Oliver’s care but we are determined to get the truth for him and other children uncovered.”
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| jabsadmin |
Posted - 06/26/2012 : 19:53:55
http://www.leighreporter.co.uk/news/local/mmr-is-still-best-option-says-top-doctor-1-4678915
Leigh Reporter
26 June 2012
MMR is still best option says top doctor
CALLS for a re-think over the safety of the MMR jab have been dismissed by a top Wigan doctor.
Dr Paul Turner, the new Borough Clinical Commissioning Group’s consultant in public health, believes that an Italian court’s ruling that a nine-year-old’s autism was caused by the triple vaccine does not prove a link.
And he had his own son inoculated this way as it remains the best protection against measles, mumps and rubella.
Pressure group Jabs, founded by Golborne mum Jackie Fletcher, had this week seized on news from a court in Rimini which awarded young Valentino Bocca £140,000 damages, with the history-making statement that the MMR vaccine - manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and widely used in Britain - had been responsible for making him autistic.
The medical establishment has long held up numerous reports from around the world that conclude that MMR is not to blame for cases of autism and other conditions such as Crohn’s disease.
But Mrs Fletcher, whose 20-year-old son was recently awarded compensation by the Vaccine Damage Unit after it agreed that MMR had caused the seizure which left him severely disabled as a toddler, says that the Italian ruling cannot be ignored.
Shadow Health Secretary and Leigh MP Andy Burnham is to refer the case to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, describing it as potentially a “significant development” and will be having a meeting with Mrs Fletcher to discuss the matter.
Referring to his own time running the NHS, he said: “We only ever act on medical evidence and if that evidence changes then we have an obligation to look at an issue again.”
But Dr Turner said: “The case of Valentino Bocca is tragic. However, this of itself does not prove a link between Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism.
“The balance of scientific evidence is that there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
“On a more personal note, when the controversy regarding MMR was at its height, I had no hesitation in ensuring that my son was given his MMR immunisations as this was and still is the best way to protect him.
“MMR immunisation remains the best way for parents to protect their children against the three diseases.”
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| jabsadmin |
Posted - 06/19/2012 : 22:14:34
Not yet available on line - typed from newspaper edition.
WIGAN EVENING POST
19th June 2012
MMR jab test case re-opens controversy
BY CHARLES GRAHAM
The Wigan mum who launched a national campaign for vaccine-damaged children says that a landmark ruling in Italy could have massive implications for this country.
For years the British medical establishment has denied links between the MMR vaccine and autism.
But a judge in the Italian city of Rimini this week awarded damages to the family of nine-year-old Valentino Bocca, saying that the triple jab for mumps, measles and rubella had been to blame for his being autistic.
Of equal significance is the fact that the inoculation Valentino received as a healthy baby was manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and was available in Britain.
This follows a ruling in America which has also linked an MMR vaccine made by Merck (again used on these shores) to autism.
Golborne mum Jackie Fletcher, who set up the Jabs group almost 20 years ago after her own son Robert developed numerous medical conditions shortly after having his MMR as a baby, said that the authorities could no longer ignore the mounting evidence.
Shadow Health Secretary and Leigh MP Andy Burnham said that he would be referring the Italian case to his opposite number in Government, Andrew Lansley, describing it as potentially a "significant development."
Mrs Fletcher - who says she does not want to scare people away from vaccines altogether, but rather have single jabs - today said she was encouraged by the news.
She added: "Whenever anyone has contacted the UK's Vaccine Damage Unit and mentioned autism it has gone straight in the bin. It is so difficult to get past the grey suits when autism is involved but this case deserves to be investigated, not dismissed."
Mr Burnham said: "I have not had the chance to read a translation of the Italian ruling but it sounds like a significant development.
"We will want to meet Jackie to discuss this further and shall refer the matter also to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.
"We only ever act on medical evidence and if that evidence changes then we have an obligation to look at an issue again."
The Wigan Borough Clinical Commissioning Group had not replied to a request for a comment at the time of going to press.
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| jabsadmin |
Posted - 06/19/2012 : 22:13:19
http://www.leighreporter.co.uk/news/local/mmr-jabs-mum-hails-new-ruling-1-4659824
Leigh Reporter
MMR jabs mum hails new ruling
19th June 2012
LEIGH MP Andy Burnham has described a landmark ruling in Italy as a significant development in the campaign for vaccine-damaged children.
For years the British medical establishment has denied links between the MMR vaccine and autism.
But a judge in Italy this week awarded damages to the family of a nine-year-old saying that the triple jab for mumps, measles and rubella had been to blame for his being autistic.
Of equal significance is the fact that the inoculation the child received as a healthy baby was manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and was also available in Britain.
Golborne mum Jackie Fletcher, who set up the Jabs group almost 20 years ago after her own son Robert developed numerous medical conditions shortly after having his MMR as a baby, said that the authorities could no longer ignore the mounting evidence.
Shadow Health Secretary Mr Burnham said that he would be referring the Italian case to his opposite number in Government, Andrew Lansley, describing it as potentially a “significant development.”
Mrs Fletcher - who says she does not want to scare people away from vaccines altogether, but rather have single jabs - today said she was encouraged by the news.
She added: “Whenever anyone has contacted the UK’s Vaccine Damage Unit and mentioned autism it has gone straight in the bin. It is so difficult to get past the grey suits when autism is involved but this case deserves to be investigated, not dismissed.”
Mr Burnham said: “I have not had the chance to read a translation of the Italian ruling but it sounds like a significant development.
“We will want to meet Jackie to discuss this further and shall refer the matter also to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.
“We only ever act on medical evidence and if that evidence changes then we have an obligation to look at an issue again.”
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| jabsadmin |
Posted - 06/19/2012 : 11:39:33
http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/blogs/italian-court-reignites-contentious-autism-vaccine-debate#comments-348009
Italian court reignites contentious autism-vaccine debate
Landmark ruling in Italian case finds that autism was caused by vaccine.
18th June 2012
It was a debate that had been put to rest. Or so we thought.
Almost two years ago, a federal court in the United States upheld a ruling that vaccines are not to blame for autism. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the decision that there is little if any evidence to support claims of a link between vaccines and autism. New evidence continued to deliver blow after blow to the original theory until the researcher who initially blew the whistle on the supposed link between vaccines and autism was declared a fraud.
The debate appeared to be over — until now.
In a landmark ruling, an Italian court has awarded £140,000 (about $219,000 U.S.) to the parents of Valentino Bocca, stating that the boy's autism was caused by the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella that he received at 9 months old. Valentino's parents could be awarded an additional £800,000 ($1.2 million) as their case continues.
The crux of the case hinged on the testimony of Dr. Antonio Barboni, a forensic scientist appointed by the judge to independently advise the court. Barboni wrote a report saying that "in the absence of any other pre-existing conditions" it is a "reasonable scientific probability" that Valentino’s autism can be "traced back to the administration of the MMR vaccine....by the health authority." Barboni’s findings were endorsed by two other well-respected doctors who examined Valentino, evaluated his case history, and gave evidence to the court hearing.
The case could set a precedent for many similar civil proceedings in Italy and around the world.
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| jabsadmin |
Posted - 06/18/2012 : 22:12:59
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/italian-court-reignites-mmr-vaccine-debate-after-award-over-child-with-autism-7858596.html?origin=internalSearch
Independent
Italian court reignites MMR vaccine debate after award over child with autism
PAUL BIGNELL SUNDAY 17 JUNE 2012
The controversial row surroundings alleged links between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism is set to be reignited following a court ruling in Italy.
Judges in Rimini, north-east Italy awarded the Bocca family Euros 174,000 (£140,000) after the Italian Health Ministry conceded the MMR vaccine caused autism in their nine-year-old son Valentino. Up to 100 similar cases are now being examined by Italian lawyers and experts suggest the case could lead to other families pursuing cases.
Doctors and health experts in Britain insist the link is merely coincidental saying children who develop autism, do so around the same time the MMR jab is administered. The Department of Health says 'there is a wealth of evidence showing children who receive the MMR vaccine are no more at risk of autism than those who don't.'
But the ruling in Italy is likely to re-open a debate which first made the headlines in Britain over a decade ago when the respected medical journal The Lancet published an article in 1998, making a connection between the triple vaccine and autism. Though the author's methods were later discredited, it was enough for many families to refuse their children the jab.
Valentino Bocca was 15 months old when he received an MMR jab in 2004. His parents said the change in him, after the jab, from a healthy boy to one who was in serious discomfort, was immediate.
Luca Ventaloro the family lawyer, said yesterday: “This is very significant for Britain which uses, and has used, an MMR vaccine with the same components as the one given to Valentino. It is wrong for governments and their health authorities to exert strong pressure on parents to take children for the MMR jab while ignoring that this vaccine can cause autism and linked conditions.”
The number of autism cases has risen sharply since the 1970s, with one in 64 British children affected.
It is not yet clear what the new evidence presented to the Italian courts was, but similar cases around the world could be brought.
In the UK, the Vaccine Damage Payments Unit has only paid small sums to 34 cases over the last decade and the child has to be 60 per cent disabled.
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| informed |
Posted - 06/17/2012 : 01:06:28
The same brand of MMR vaccine was used for Irish children!
Mairéad
Irish Vaccine Informed Parents |
| Emerald |
Posted - 06/16/2012 : 09:01:36
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160054/MMR-A-mothers-victory-The-vast-majority-doctors-say-link-triple-jab-autism-Italian-court-case-reignite-controversial-debate.html
MMR: A mother's victory. The vast majority of doctors say there is no link between the triple jab and autism, but could an Italian court case reignite this controversial debate?
Landmark ruling in an Italian court has said Valentino Bocca's autism was provoked by the MMR jab he had at aged nine months
His parents have already been awarded £140,000 and could be paid an additional £800,000 in their case against the Italian government
The case could set a precedent for many similar civil proceedings
By SUE REID
PUBLISHED: 23:03, 15 June 2012 | UPDATED: 01:18, 16 June 2012
Comments (21)
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At nine months old, Valentino Bocca was as bright as a button. In a favourite family photo, taken by his father, the baby boy wriggles in his mother’s arms and laughs for the camera.
His parents look at the precious picture often these days. It is a reminder of their only son before they took him on a sunny morning to the local public health clinic for a routine childhood vaccination.
Valentino was never the same child after the jab in his arm. He developed autism and, in a landmark judgment, a judge has ruled that his devastating disability was provoked by the inoculation against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).
The judgment in a provincial Italian court challenges the settled view of the majority of the medical profession — and could have profound implications in Britain and across the world.
Valentino’s parents, Antonella, 44, and Maritzo, 43, have been awarded £140,000, to be paid by Italy’s Ministry of Health and they plan a civil action against the Italian government that may get them £800,000 more.
‘But, of course, the money will never bring back the perfect and beautiful child of 15 months that we had before the doctors gave him the inoculation,’ said his mother this week at the family’s small but beautifully designed flat near Rimini in northern Italy.
‘We have a different Valentino today. We love him just as much, but our lives will never be the same again.
‘He is nine, but cannot speak, and only sings a little to himself. He cannot hold a pencil. He has a special teacher at school to help him and finds it difficult to mix with other children. What the future holds for him, or for us, we do not know.’
The story of Valentino Bocca is a tragic one. His family have agreed to reveal their identity for the first time as the outcome of their case became public last week. They spoke exclusively to the Mail because they believe other parents all over the world should learn what has happened to their son.
Autism covers a huge range of developmental disorders which affect a child’s communication, social skills, and ability to lead a normal life.
Families caring for severely autistic children say their lives are blighted. Care of sufferers and related disorders costs the British state billions of pounds a year.
The number of autism cases has soared over the past four decades — at the last count researchers found one in 64 British children have some kind of autistic condition — and there has been widespread speculation over the cause of this widespread curse on so many families. In the Eighties, only four in every 10,000 children showed any signs of autism.
Suspicion has long been directed by some parents at the MMR vaccine, a triple cocktail of the measles, mumps and rubella viruses, although the Department of Health and NHS doctors have argued forcefully that better diagnosis of autism and environmental factors are responsible for the extraordinary rise in the number of cases.
In 1998, a highly controversial article in the medical journal The Lancet written by Dr Andrew Wakefield made a connection between the MMR jab and autism.
His research methods were later discredited, but as a result of the article countless numbers of parents in Britain refused to let their children have the jab, and cases of measles — which is very occasionally fatal — went up significantly.
In recent years, public confidence in the MMR inoculation has returned, but the Italian court’s judgment could reopen the controversy. This week, Luca Ventaloro, the Bocca family’s lawyer who specialises in helping families with vaccine-damaged children, proclaimed that the Rimini court judgment was the ‘first public admission’ that the MMR vaccine could, in some cases, lead to a healthy child developing autism.
Crucially, it came after Antonio Barboni, a doctor of forensic medicine and appointed by the judge to independently advise the court, wrote a report saying that ‘in the absence of any other pre-existing conditions’ it is a ‘reasonable scientific probability’ that Valentino’s autism can be ‘traced back to the administration of the MMR vaccine#8201;.#8201;.#8201;.#8201;by the health authority’.
Dr Barboni’s findings were endorsed by two other eminent doctors who examined Valentino, investigated his medical background, and gave evidence to the court hearing.
Judge Lucio Ardigo, awarding compensation to the family, agreed. He said it was ‘conclusively established’ that Valentino had suffered from an ‘autistic disorder associated with medium cognitive delay’ and his illness, as Dr Barboni stated, was linked to receiving the jab.
Lawyer Mr Ventaloro explained yesterday: ‘This is very significant for Britain which uses, and has used, an MMR vaccine with the same components as the one given to Valentino.
‘It is wrong for governments and their health authorities to exert strong pressure on parents to take children for the MMR jab while ignoring that this vaccine can cause autism and linked conditions.’
Claudio Simion, a leading member of the lobby group Association for Freedom of Choice in Vaccination (Comilva), adds: ‘The Rimini judgment is vitally important for children everywhere. The numbers with autism are growing. It is a terrible thing that the authorities turn a blind eye to the connection between the MMR vaccination and this illness.’
No doubt the Bocca family would agree. They turned to Comilva for advice on compensation after they were finally told that their son had autism when he was five years old.
They had travelled to a world-renowned children’s clinic in Milan, bewildered as to why their son screamed all night, refused to eat anything but bread, could not keep still or concentrate and refused to look them in the eye.
After 14 days of tests into his genetic background to rule out a family connection for his illness, a neurologist explained the diagnosis.
‘We were handed a big file with Valentino’s name on it and stamped with the word ‘autism’,’ remembers his mother Antonella. ‘Up to then, we had suspicions he had autism. But the nurses, the doctors, and the specialists we had seen before said we were dreaming up fairy tales.’
Father Maritzo adds: ‘When we mentioned our suspicions about the MMR jab and how Valentino had been an ordinary happy little boy until he had it, these medical people looked at us as if we were crazy,’
As they talk in the park near their home, with Valentino tightly holding each of their hands, Antonella and Maritzo reveal how their nightmare began.
The couple had been married for a year before Valentino was born in 2003. His birth was normal and they were thrilled to take their healthy baby home.
Antonella, who worked part-time in a textile factory, and Maritzo, a civil engineer, went together with Valentino for all his routine vaccination appointments.
It was on the last Friday of March, 2004, that the boy was given the MMR jab. The dark-haired toddler was already saying ‘Mama’ and ‘Dada’, walking a few steps and enchanting his two grandmothers because he would not stop chattering. His parents had delayed for a month the triple MMR jab (normally given at 13 months) because Valentino had a bout of gastro-enteritis.
Antonella told the doctor about the illness and asked if it was safe for Valentino to have the jab. The doctor said there was ‘no problem’.
‘He cried when they gave him the injection,’ remembers Maritzo. ‘We were asked to wait half an hour afterwards at the clinic to make sure he was all right. When the doctors said he was OK, we just went home.’
They drove away — not knowing their lives had changed for ever. By the evening their normally hungry son was refusing to eat very much. That night he had diarrhoea and was restless. But neither of his parents attributed this to the jab.
Maritzo continues: ‘A few days after that, Valentino stopped using his spoon to eat. We started having to put food into his mouth. It was as though he was a baby again.
‘It was as if we’d gone to the vaccination clinic with one child and had been given another to take home. Valentino was not interested in what was happening around him any more. He could not concentrate on a single thing.’
But worse was to follow. The little boy stopped sleeping at night. He would wake up and scream in pain. During the day he ran around in circles without stopping. His parents were getting exhausted and were at their wits’ end.
Maritzo explains: ‘About two weeks after the jab he began screaming every night. He woke up three or four times each night and cried. It was like something out of The Exorcist. He was obviously in pain and we could do nothing to comfort him.’
They went back to the vaccination clinic for advice.
‘We were not being over fussy but the medical staff did not seem to grasp the gravity of the situation,’ added Antonella.
The clinic just gave them some cream to put on Valentino’s skin. After six months of no improvement in his condition, they took Valentino to the casualty department of the local hospital.
For the first time Antonella mentioned that the MMR vaccine might be to blame. ‘They said it was not possible,’ she says. Bewildered, the couple still looked for answers. Valentino was still screaming at night and like a wild child during the day.
When he was nearly two-and-a-half (14 months after the jab), they went to see an expert in neuropsychiatry and told her that their son had changed after the jab.
Antonella says: ‘She did not even write down what I was saying. She downplayed the situation, although she said he was not developing normally for a child of his age. But she could not offer any explanation and said it might be temporary in such a young boy.’
Desperately, they started to do some research on the internet. It suddenly occurred to them, after reading of other parents’ experiences, that Valentino might have autism.
When this was confirmed by the Milan children’s clinic, he was put on a milk-free and gluten-free diet.
‘Within a week, Valentino was sleeping at night and not shouting out in pain,’ says Maritzo.
‘He started to look us in the eye for the first time since the jab. He began to feed himself again. Progress was slow, but at last there was some hope.’
But, sadly, it was too late to find a complete cure for Valentino. At nine years old, he will never lead a normal life, and may need care for the rest of his days.
However, the Rimini court judgment has brought his parents some comfort because, for the first time, it supports their long-held belief that the MMR jab caused their son’s autism.
In the UK, this much-debated link has never been established in the courts. In 2010, a boy called Robert Fletcher received £90,000, for severe brain damage provoked by the MMR jab, under the Government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme. But he did not have autism.
In the U.S., nearly 5,000 families blame the MMR jab for causing their children’s autism — despite continuing protests from the medical and scientific world that there is little evidence.
In 2008, a girl called Hannah Poling was awarded $1.5#8201;million damages by the U.S. government when a court ruled that receiving nine vaccines in one day (including the MMR) had caused her autistic condition.
But the court said that Hannah had an underlying cell disorder, mitochondria, which had been aggravated by the vaccinations and manifested itself as autism.
The Italian judgment has important implications for Britain for a number of reasons. First, the jab given to Valentino — called MMR 11 — contains the same active measles, mumps and rubella viruses in the same quantities as MMR VaxPro, one of only two approved MMR vaccines in the UK which is used on hundreds of thousands of children every year. (Prior to the introduction of MMR VaxPro in 2006, MMR II had been used in the UK since 1988).
This match of ingredients is confirmed in the Department of Health Green Book — a guide for doctors on inoculation against infectious disease — and by detailed data on MMR vaccines released by the European Medicines’ Agency.
Second, in the UK, like Italy, the MMR jab is not compulsory.
However, the judge in Valentino’s case said that because the Italian government’s medical authorities so strongly recommend child vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella, the state should take responsibility for the devastating damage to Valentino.
The judge’s view has since been endorsed by Italy’s High Court of Law (the equivalent of our Supreme Court) which ruled that the Italian government must pay compensation to children damaged by any jabs given under the Ministry of Health auspices — even if they are not compulsory ones.
Today, Antonella and Maritzo believe this is only fair for families. ‘The medical authorities were really pushing us to take Valentino for his childhood jabs,’ recalls Antonella.
‘We were sent endless appointment letters from the clinic. They started arriving when he was three months old.There was huge pressure. The letters made us, and other parents, feel obliged to have the MMR jab in order protect our beloved child from a dreadful illness.’
Little did they know that, soon after that jab, their son would suddenly develop a devastating condition from which he would never recover. The consensus of medical opinion in Britain remains that autism symptoms emerge suddenly and inexplicably around the age at which MMR is administered — making it inevitable that some cases will arise just after the jab.
Most doctors continue to argue that this is merely coincidence and that no convincing mechanism to explain a link has been set out.
The Department of Health has insisted: ‘MMR remains the best protection against measles, mumps and rubella. It is recognised by the World Health Organisation as having an outstanding safety record and there is a wealth of evidence showing children who receive the MMR vaccine are no more at risk of autism than those who don’t.’
However, the Italian judgment clearly suggests this important debate is far from over.
DR MARTIN SCURR: 'I WOULD STILL GIVE THE MMR JAB TO MY CHILD'
As we are all aware, there has been much debate about the safety or otherwise of the MMR triple vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella. It is given to children after the first year of life, and again just before starting school.
Some research which implied there was an association between the MMR and both inflammatory bowel disease and autism has been discredited.
And the risk-benefit analysis (as with many medical procedures, there is no such thing as an entirely safe immunisation) is now that it’s safer to have an MMR shot than not.
Measles is potentially lethal, although there have been only four childhood deaths in this country in the past 20 years, and two of these children had underlying health conditions.
But measles, mumps and rubella do have significant complication rates. This ruling by a court in Italy has re-opened the debate — though it is too early to decide if the judges have got this right and found new evidence.
Meanwhile, we have been coping with a recent increase in cases of measles in London, owing to the fact that so many children were not immunised over the past few years due to parental anxiety: there have been 1,000 cases this year in the UK so far, and 15,000 in France.
More relevantly to my practice, patients who have caught measles were initially misdiagnosed by the doctors seeing them, because those much younger than me have little or no experience in recognising and treating this severe childhood illness — and late diagnosis is not ideal when it comes to minimising complications.
It is true that the MMR vaccine can cause brain problems — a response called encephalitis — in one child in a million given the shot.
But the measles illness causes encephalitis 1,000 times more frequently, and one child in 3,000 dies of measles if they catch it.
So, in my view, it’s a no-brainer: all my children had the MMR jab, and I work hard to make sure that my patients are well and carefully instructed about its pros and cons.
And that is what I shall go on doing — despite the events in Italy.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160054/MMR-A-mothers-victory-The-vast-majority-doctors-say-link-triple-jab-autism-Italian-court-case-reignite-controversial-debate.html#ixzz1xwOqrQ5B |
| jabsadmin |
Posted - 05/27/2012 : 23:50:42
SUNDAY POST
27th May 2012
Legal hope for MMR row
By Janet Boyle
Ruling backs up parents' pleas for compensation
Picture subtitle: Many parents are convinced the MMR vaccine damaged their children.
A breakthrough judgement which ruled in favour of a boy damaged by the MMR vaccine in Italy has offered hope to parents fighting for kids in the UK.
The court in Rimini decided the child's autism was caused by the triple vaccine and awarded the parents compensation.
The news has been welcomed by many parents including Scots mum Maria Cunningham, from Edinburgh, whose son David, 21, became severely autistic within weeks of being given the MMR vaccine when he was 14 months old.
Within days he began to withdraw from Maria and stopped speaking a week later.
"I could only watch terrified as my baby moved into his own world refusing to turn when I spoke or called his name," she says.
Several pleas to the family GP for help were dismissed as being the complaints of an over-anxious mum, Maria, 51, reveals.
"But within eight months I had lost my son as he had sunk completely into a world of his own," Maria adds.
A paediatric neurologist eventually diagnosed autism. David was four by then and showing signs of severe developmental delay.
David spent most of his education at a special needs school and today is cared for by Maria. But he will never live independently.
The number of children with autism has risen 12-fold in the past 30 years and may be 50% higher than previously suspected.
Many parents point to the MMR vaccine as a driving factor.
Maria says she has fought for more than 15 years for compensation but her pleas have been dismissed.
She appealed to the UK government's Vaccines Damage Compensation Programme but they do not recognise autism as a side effect of the MMR vaccine.
"This legal decision in Italy is the recognition so many families in the UK have been seeking for years.
"It is a ruling in a fellow European country and proof that the MMR vaccine can and does cause autism in some children.
"Payments have been made in the USA to children and I believe David has been damaged.
"We also know that countries like Japan and Canada no longer use the vaccine."
Families like Maria are backed by campaigning group JABS.
Campaign head Jackie Fletcher said: "There are many others like David who suffered side effects from the vaccine and all the parents ask for is justice for their autistic children.
"We are not anti-vaccine but urge parents to consider single vaccines because some children react badly to vaccines given in triple doses. Individuals respond differently and one vaccine is not suitable for all infants."
A spokesman for the vaccine's makers, SmithKlineGlaxo said: "Unfortunately we don't have anything about this specific case in Italy. There are many manufacturers of the MMR vaccine."
The Government urges parents to continue to have their children protected with the triple vaccine.
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